Back from Paris!

I just got back from one of the most exciting career adventure I have had to date! I was hired by the BellyFusions Festival to teach and perform my vision of Belly Hoop Dance in Paris. Upon my return, many of my friends and fans wanted to hear all the stories from my trip. Starting a blog seemed to be the best way to share my experience to as many people as possible :)

The reason I named the Blog "Dance is a Universal Language" is because of an epiphany I had when I was in Paris. I was fortunate enough to perform in the BellyFusions show the night before I taught my workshop. It was by far the most international show I have ever been apart of. There were performers from all over the globe! Italy, France, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, England and even a couple from America. We talked backstage mostly in English, but it was what happened when we all got off stage from the final bow that made me realize our true connection is dance. Dance can cross boundaries of language, country, culture and religion. At the end of the show, all of the performers were called on stage to do a final bow. We each had our own moment to bow and then all of us danced on stage together cheering along with the audience. We got backstage and all of the performers let out a loud ZAGARHEET!!! It was in this moment that we were unified, regardless of our differing origins. I was filled with emotion and teary eyed. I realized that Dance is a Universal Language.


After getting off stage from that show I was showered with some of the most genuine, thoughtful compliments I have ever received. One woman told me that I had a humble and modest presence on stage. As if I was just there doing my thing, no big deal, like every other day...even though to her, the hoop tricks I was executing with fluidity were mind blowing. This filled her with emotion and truly elicited a response from her. I think what I was also channeling was gratitude. Gratitude to be on that stage with those world-rewound artists, all the way in France! Her words will stay with me forever.


When I found out I was going to Paris, I immediately contacted the organizers of the Burlesque Festival in Paris in hopes they would be having an event while I was in town. Luckily they were planning a show including a live band Merci Madame which played old American rock n' roll cover songs. (Imagine the irony as I was choosing from the list of music to perform to, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, etc. First time performing in Europe and all I have is American music to work with?! I ended up choosing "Shake, Rattle & Roll" for the obvious shimmying possibilities :) 

This event was a blast! Juliette Dragon (she has a huge amazing dragon tattoo covering her back, oh and she's about 6 feet tall!) is the organizer along with her husband, Sebastian, the lead singer of the band. She had her burlesque students perform (they rocked it) and her troupe Les Filles De Joie. I thought the whole building was going to collapse due to the roar of the audience when I performed my Hoop Burlesque act! Especially when the lights went down and my fire tassels went up! Juliette is a Goddess that I can now say I look up to, and that's after only meeting her a couple times. She was on stage with the band singing, announcing, MCing and dancing (all the while wearing one of the sexiest, sparkliest dresses EVER) for TWO HOURS! Yep! And THEN she performed her piece after all that, striping down to pasties and fishnets, dancing around in the audience with fire torches!!! As she kissed her husband who was playing guitar while she was strutting her stuff on fire, I was touched by their sweet romance. And what a sweet woman too! Some burlesque performers can be DIVAS, to say the least, she, however was absolutely a joy to work with! Oh l'amour!

The night before these crazy burlesque shenanigans, I was performing with Lila Chupa-Hoops at the Paris Burning Night, France's Burning Man Decom. The rawness of this event made it feel more like Burning Man than most of the Burning Man affiliated events I go to on a regular basis in Southern California. Since their Burning Man events are so far and few between, they REALLY go all out when they have the chance. Set in a three story club right next the Moulin Rouge. This event was packed full of about 1,300 fully costumed burners. The DJs were epic! I have not been exposed to Balkan House music very much but DJ Malaka tore it up playing this somewhat traditional sounding Eastern European gypsy dance music. The crowd loved it! They started making congo lines and doing Russian high kicks while dancing, super silly. There was some amazing art that was installed into the club too...crazy neon string art, mushroom forests and all kinds of interactive trippy pieces. It felt like there was no division between the club and the art installations. There were some amazing performers too! Tribal belly dancers, contact improv writhing human body piles, burlesque, fire and not to mention LED hooping! Myself, my boyfriend Austin Space, Margaux Lila, Danielle (UK) and Anossens tore it up hooping on stage! Too much fun!


I taught two workshops while in Paris, both went amazingly! I was so lucky to have some very talented and trained belly dancers in my BellyFusions Hoop workshop, making them quick to catch onto hooping and easy for me to teach the challenging fusion of the two dance forms. The Hoop Burlesque workshop was full to the brim! So full that I had to divide the whole class into 2 and teach everything twice, giving each group enough room to hoop.


Besides all the teaching and performing I did, I was actually able to absorb the amazing art, architecture, culture and food that Paris has to offer. I loved wondering the flee markets (Marche aux Puces). Something I had never done when I lived in Paris in college six years ago. There was SO MUCH antique furniture, art, lamps, vintage clothing, jewelry, shoes, records, old posters, etc. Wow! A true homage to the old and the beautiful. I was blown away. I could only imagine the type of artistic theatrical outpouring I could create with that kind of resource. It was like wondering through a museum but everything was for sale. One day I will go back there to buy my wedding dress :) It would be nice to fill a big, beautiful house with all that furniture too! Hmmm...maybe if I ever have a disposable income!


I'd say my favorite day was when I went to the Louvre with Austin. We wondered around soaking in all of the beauty and then walked over to Angelina's. This restaurant was divine! My mom brought me there when she visited me in college. The hot chocolate is by far the best I've ever had. We also had a lentil, lobster, crustacean foam dish and steak with bearnaise sauce and fries. Wow! An amazingly rich, delicious meal. We were sooo spoiled by the food! The bakery next to our apartment had the most amazing pastries, bread, sandwiches and salads. We went there multiple times a day. So much so that the lady working there knew us :) We also had a fresh veggie market, a fromagerie and butcher right next to our place. YUM! I allowed myself to stray from my vegan tendencies for the pure rarity of that amazing food. 


Other highlights include the Pompidou, Musee D'Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, Bateaux Mouches, the catacombs, L'Orangerie, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, seeing Mr. Scruff perform a 6 hour DJ set in Rennes, delicious falafels, crepes off the street, the 8th annual fire spinning party, meeting lots of amazing burners like Travis, Tom and Olive and delicious cappuccinos! 


Oh yeah and we hooped! We hooped a lot! Everywhere we went we hooped and took video. In front of every major landmark and even in the metro! While it was moving :) HERE's the video! And HERE's the video for my Burlesque performance. More photos can be found HERE.


All I can do now is express my gratitude. I am so grateful to my community who supported me through this new endeavor. Everyone who donated money, performance and products to the fund to get us there. All of the talented teachers who subbed my classes in San Diego while I was gone. My troupe, The Hoop Unit for performing in "One World One Show" in San Diego without me! The BellyFusions Festival for making this all possible, Juliette Dragon for including me in her amazing burlesque shenanigans, Lila Chupa-Hoops for allowing me to use her class hoops to teach my students and for inviting me to perform with her at the Burning Night, my boyfriend Austin for coming with me and sharing all of his love and support with me. Also, all of our friends and family who welcomed us back with so much warmth, making us feel missed and loved. And YOU for reading this blog! I am truly blessed to be sharing this life with all of you. I can't wait to write the next blog about everything coming up!